The body blows just keep coming for
Apple and its iPhone 4. The iPhone 4 was unveiled to much fanfare at
beginning of June, but once customers started receiving their phones,
problems began being reported.

Earlier this month during lab testing, Consumer Reports stated that "there's
no reason, at least yet, to forgo buying an iPhone 4 over its
reception concerns."

Today, however, it is reversing its
stance after
testing more phones in a radio frequency (RF) isolation chamber. Consumer Reports' findings
pretty much mirror what everyone has been stating for the past
several weeks with regards to the iPhone
4's reception woes. "When your finger or hand touches a spot
on the phone's lower left side—an easy thing, especially for
lefties—the signal can significantly degrade enough to cause you to
lose your connection altogether if you're in an area with a weak
signal," said Mike Gikas on the Consumer Reports blog. "Due
to this problem, we can't recommend the iPhone 4."

Gikas goes on to state that an
unsightly fix for the reception issue is to put a piece of tape over
the gap between the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth and cellular radio antennas.

The iPhone 4 was rated highly due to
its sharp Retina display, Face Time video chat, and its stellar
battery life, but the lingering reception issues mean that the phone
won't be getting the recommended rating.

"Apple needs to come up with a
permanent—and free—fix for the antenna problem before we can
recommend the iPhone 4," Gikas concluded.

1. People have to shell out 200 - 300.00 of their hard earned money _and_ submit to a 2-year AT&T Wireless contract to buy the phone.

2. People have to agree to allow Apple to track them via GPS and other possible means in order to be able to use the app store.

3. Apple insists that people are "holding their expensive phone wrong" rather than try to address the physical problem.

4. Apple is so concerned about profits that people kill themselves working in the factories that make their phones--profits that only cost them 2.00 more per phone to double the wages of those making the phones.

I could go on, should I?

There is PLENTY that people should be whining about here! If you don't see it, you have been had and are already under Jobs control.

Sarcasm aside...

1. People don't have to buy the phone. Thus not sign anything.

2. People don't have to buy the phone. Thus not be tracked so that apple can make more money via targeted ads.

3. Apple designed the phone to their specs, which included proper holding of the phone.

4. The only thing that EVERYONE should be whining about, even if you don't buy the phone, is this because a manufacturer should know what goes into the making of its product (Materials and Human Labor).

quote: 3. Apple designed the phone to their specs, which included proper holding of the phone.

Since when do designs for cellular phones include "proper phone holding"? Can you find me any documentation or evidence that a proper antenna design in cell phones are dependent upon how they are held for ANYONE else besides Apple for you to get proper reception?

You are being a fanboi. It's embarrassing that you actually posted that.

LMFAO at me being a fanboi. Should reply on my lovely FroyoMotoDroid. Not sure how I could be considered a fanboi when my response to the first 2 previous points was "you don't have to buy the phone".

Besides that misunderstanding, I'm just saying that they are the ones that created the specifications. This being so they are the ones to test "proper operations" regarding to the specifications. Apple failed big time with the testing of this device. Who knows if it is a case of isolated ECM testing which did not include someone holding the phone the casual ways that people hold their phones (Not the "Apple way"). Or a change that was never tested.

As for all other companies...I hope they aren't as stupid as Apple and actually line test phones not just go by how the review models preform. And have a standard testing procedure that includes a person holding the phone any normal way.

In the end Apple is going to revise all of its testing procedures hoping that they don't fail so epically again. And if Apple ever answers a question about another piece of hardware with "Your holding it wrong" we will all know that someone didn't follow good testing practices.